


i'll walk with you into the wind

by leafvillagebitch



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Orpheus and Eurydice Myth, i changed the ending of the myth
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-12
Updated: 2018-09-12
Packaged: 2019-07-11 08:14:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,067
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15968324
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/leafvillagebitch/pseuds/leafvillagebitch
Summary: "Shiro kissed Keith’s forehead again and turned around to begin his journey down the hall. He had taken about two steps when he started to feel the silence weighing on him; he almost reached out for Keith when he remembered the terms of the deal."or: the orpheus/eurydice au no one asked for(title from Promises from Hadestown)





	i'll walk with you into the wind

**Author's Note:**

> i changed the ending of the myth bc no one likes sad gays ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯
> 
> this is my first sheith fic so pls be kind to me i love them :')

“There’s an incoming transmission from Zarkon’s ship.” Allura called from the command center. 

The Paladins all turned their attention to the screen where Zarkon now appeared with Keith alongside him.

“Keith,” Shiro said almost under his breath.

“Paladins of Voltron,” Zarkon began, but Shiro didn’t hear the rest of what it was he had to say to them; he was too focused on Keith to care.

He had dark circles under his eyes, and he looked thin - thinner than normal. He looked like a ghost of the Keith that Shiro knew. He remembered the conversation they had the night before he had left; he was bright-eyed and full of hope.

 

_ “Shiro, they’re my family, or at least… I think they could lead me to my family. I have to at least try, right?’ _

 

_ “Keith, you’re walking into the lion’s den - How many times have Zarkon and Haggar tried to kill us?” _

 

_ “They could give me answers - the answers I’ve been looking for my whole life.” _

 

_ “I’m just worried that you won’t find the answers you’re looking for - these people are tricky, Keith. I know them.” _

 

_ “I’ll come back, Shiro. I’ll come back with answers, and then we can-” _

 

_ He’d reached out and taken Shiro’s hand and kissed his knuckles. He smiled, and Shiro knew the battle was lost. He had kissed Keith’s forehead. _

 

_ “Go. I will be here when you get back, Keith. Of course I will.” _

 

Shiro was on his way to his lion before he knew where his feet were taking him.

“Where exactly do you think you are going?” Shiro heard coming from behind him. He stepped out of the black lion to see Allura standing in the door of the hangar.  
  
“I’m the only person who can get onto Haggar’s ship and get Keith back. I have to go.”  
  
“Shiro,” Allura took a deep breath, “Shiro – Zarkon will use this to steal the black lion back from us - it is a suicide mission. You cannot think that this is a good idea.”  
  
“And you can’t think that I would ever let any member of our team-“  
  
“Go if you must, Shiro, but do not insult me by acting like I do not know this is about Keith.”  
  
He felt the warmth creep up his cheeks and couldn’t meet her eyes.  
  
“Of course it is about Keith,” she said.  
  
“Then you know I have no choice.”  
  
“Go, Shiro.”  
  
“Thank you, Allura.”  
  
He took a deep breath and fired up the Black Lion, “okay, buddy. Let’s go get him.”  
  
Setting a course for the last known location of Zarkon’s ship, he leaned back and closed his eyes. Unable to sleep, he told his lion of Keith.  
  
“Keith was the only one to ask me what I wanted before I left for Kerberos,” he said to his lion, as if the black lion didn’t already know, “Adam didn’t want me to do it, Holt said he wouldn’t go without me… I’d spent weeks agonizing over this choice, and when Keith looked at me and asked me what I wanted to do, and I realized no one else had asked me that. He was such a little punk. Did you know the first time I met him, he stole my car?”

It almost felt as if the lion were headbutting him; he forgot that sometimes the lions just acted like giant, mechanical housecats, and he laughed.  
  
“I just…” he sighed, “ I just  don’t know why he would choose them over us. We’re his family, we’ve been there for him. I hope he even wants to come back with me; he just… He didn’t look right during that transmission from Zarkon.”  
  
It almost felt like something was pawing at his arm, and he smiled. The lion knew what Shiro did not: that Zarkon sometimes still used the bond to his lion to listen in on the paladins, and that Zarkon was a romantic at heart. The lion knew that Zarkon was the key to convincing Haggar to let Keith come home.  
  
“Keith was the one who broke me out of that horrible prison the Garrison threw me into; I might still be there if it weren’t for him. He’s saved me more times than I deserve; I just hope that for once I can save him.”  
  
As he said this, the Galra ship that Keith was on came into view.

* * *

  
“He’s coming, you know.” Zarkon said, tuning out of his connection with the black lion.  
  
“I can’t say I’m surprised,” Haggar said, “Should we attack him now, or should we wait?”  
  
“Why not give him the boy?”  
  
“What? Zarkon, you’ve always been a little soft, but…”  
  
“Not without a test, of course. And if he loses, we get to keep both of them… and the lion.”  
  
“What kind of a test?”  
  
“Oh, Haggar, I wouldn’t want to deprive you of the pleasure of coming up with that.”  
  
“Do you know their weaknesses?”  
  
“I know that the Champion feels a lack of trust for the boy. His pride has been wounded that the boy would choose the Galra over him.”  
  
“Well that’s something I can work with…”  


* * *

  
Shiro walked down the hallway of Haggar’s ship and couldn’t decide if it was too quiet or if his heart was pounding so loudly that he couldn’t hear anything else. What was he thinking? That he could walk in here and demand that Keith come with him? Would Keith even want to come with him? He thought briefly about turning around, but he knew he wouldn’t be able to live with himself if he went back to the Castle of Lions without Keith.  
  
“Haggar!” He yelled as he walked into the command center.  
  
“Ah, yes, our Champion,” Shiro flinched at the nickname, “We knew you would be coming.”  
  
“How did you-”  
  
“Looking for this?” Zarkon entered the room and pushed Keith to his knees in the middle of the room.  
  
“Shiro?” Keith yelled, “What are you doing here?”  
  
“Keith!” Shiro ran to him, knelt down, and ran his hand along Keith’s face, “Keith I- I just- come back, please. Come home to us. To me.”  
  
“Shiro I- I can’t.”  
  
He grabbed Keith’s arms, “These people aren’t your family just because they’re Galra.”  
  
“It’s not that, there’s a contract-”  
  
“You signed a contract? Why would you-”  
  
“Yes, yes that’s all very nice, boys, but can we get a move on? Champion, we’ll let the boy leave if you can pass our test.”  
  
“Test?” Shiro whispered, still holding onto Keith.  
  
“If you fail, he stays with us, as does your lion… But don’t worry, we’ll send you home in a nice cruiser.”  
  
“Shiro, you can’t do this - I’m sure it’s a trap.” Keith said.  
  
“Keith, I’m not leaving here without you.”  
  
“What’s the test, Haggar?”  
  
“Champion, you must walk out of here with the boy behind you. You cannot turn around until you step into the lion. You must trust that he walks behind you.”  
  
“That’s it?” Keith said.  
  
“Can we- can we have a moment?” Shiro asked.  
  
“Five minutes.”  
  
Shiro leaned closer to Keith’s face and gripped his cheek, “Do you want to come back with me?”  
  
“Of course I do, Shiro. Come on, this will be a piece of cake! You know i’ll be right behind-“  
  
“Do I, Keith?”  
  
“What’s that supposed to mean?”  
  
“You left. You left me to be with the people who tortured me every day for a year. How can I trust you after that?”  
  
“Do you- do you really feel that way? You- you said you’d never give up on me.”  
  
“I-“  
  
“Did you not mean that?”  
  
“Of course I meant it.”  
  
Keith took Shiro’s hand, “then trust me. You haven’t given up on me; I won’t give up on you. Shiro, We can do this.”  
  
Shiro kissed Keith’s forehead, “okay.”  
  
“Time’s up, boys! Do you accept the terms or not, Champion?”  
  
He looked at Keith, who was looking at him with more love than Shiro could ever believe he deserved, and was filled with a sense of certainty that he hadn’t felt before - not with Adam, not with any other man.  
  
“Yes. We accept the terms.”  
  
“Good,” She smiled one of the most wicked smiles Shiro had ever seen, “come then, boy.” Keith walked toward her, but Shiro wasn’t sure it was completely by his own volition. She did some sort of elaborate hand motion, and Keith was silent.  
  
“What did you do to him?” Shiro began to panic.  
  
“Don’t worry, you’ll be able to hear him again the moment you get on the lion - that is, _if_ you get on the lion.”  
  
Keith looked as if he was yelling something, but Shiro couldn’t make out what it was. He couldn’t hear Keith’s voice, steps, or breaths. If he were to turn around, it would be as if no one was there.  
  
This was fine.  
  
“Let’s go then, get walking. Remember: No turning around and no reaching out until you set foot on that lion. Otherwise, it’s all ours.”  
  
Shiro kissed Keith’s forehead again and turned around to begin his journey down the hall. He had taken about two steps when he started to feel the silence weighing on him; he almost reached out for Keith when he remembered the terms of the deal.  
  
“We can do this.”  
  
He held on to the echo of Keith’s voice in his head for as long as he could, but he felt like the hallway back to the hangar was longer than it was when he’d arrived - he was sure Haggar couldn’t do that - could she? He had never really thought about the extent of her powers, he realized. He reached the halfway point.  
  
How long had he been walking? Five minutes? Five hours? Was Keith still behind him? Shiro was certain that Keith loved him, but he also knew this was the only connection Keith had found to his past. Was it hubris to believe that Keith would be willing to give that up to be with him? Was it selfish to ask him to?  
  
Shiro started to turn around to tell Keith that he should stay, that he should learn about his heritage, and that he and the rest of the team would be waiting for him when he got back, and he remembered the test. It wasn’t singularly about Keith anymore; he couldn’t lose the lion.  
  
“Keith?” He said. He didn’t expect a reply, but the silence was more unnerving than he anticipated.  
  
“Keith, I’m not sure what her magic entails, if you can hear me or not, or if you’re even there, but I want you to know I’d understand if you wanted to turn back. If you wanted to stay here, and… and connect to your past – I get it. And… I would be here, all of us would be here when you’re ready to come back. We’d make it work until you wanted to come back. And if you chose not to come back, well… I guess I don’t want to think about that.”  
  
Shiro didn’t realize that silence could be so loud.  
  
“I want you to know, though, that I want you to come back with me. I know that might be selfish but… we belong together, Keith.”  
  
The lion came into view and Shiro almost broke into a run.  
  
“Almost there.”  
  
“We can do this.”  
  
It seemed to get harder and harder not to turn around the closer he got to the lion.  
  
“Keith, _please_ be behind me. I just- please.”  
  
He took a deep breath and grabbed the lion’s paw, “Come on, buddy, please let me in.”  
  
The lion roared to life and opened for Shiro; he walked all the way up the ramp and found his heart was trying to beat its way out of his chest. What if Keith hadn’t followed him? He took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and felt a hand on his shoulder. 

 

Shiro turned around and pulled Keith into him as their mouths crashed together; Shiro hoped the kiss communicated everything he’d been unable to say: Thank you, I love you, I’m sorry for doubting you, your presence makes me happier than I’m sure any one person has a right to be. Keith pulled back from him and smiled so brightly, as if to say “message received,” and Shiro was sure he had no choice but to smile back.

  
“Shiro, you saved me.”


End file.
